Passionate crowd sees Tijuana club blanked in bid for promotion

TIJUANA – The final whistle sounded at soldout Estadio Caliente yesterday, and big puffs of red, black and white confetti rose in the cloudless sky and danced in the afternoon breeze.

Not because Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente were victorious and moved a step closer to elusive promotion to Mexican soccer's highest echelon.

But because what else were fans going to do with the confetti? Keep it? Take it home?

They had thrown some of it at the start of yesterday's championship game, of course. They also had saved some – bags and bags of it – to celebrate the goals that certainly were to come, knowing this is a team that almost never loses at home and almost never is shut out.

But the goals never came, and the Xolos were held to a 0-0 tie by Merida FC to the utter disbelief of who knows how many people jammed into Estadio Caliente on the grounds of the Agua Caliente race track.

The Xolos' home unbeaten streak stayed alive. Their dreams of playing their way into the Premier Division did not.

This was the conclusion of the two-leg finals for the Clausura half of Mexico's split seasons. Merida won the first leg 1-0, meaning the 0-0 tie yesterday secured the Clausura title and a berth in the promotion final against Queretaro this week for a berth in Mexico's top league.

This was the third time a club from Mexico's sixth-largest city has come this close to promotion to the Premier Division, and failed. The previous two, though, didn't carry the same sense of expectation or entitlement.

Estadio Caliente, which seats 13,333, was rocking like it never has been before. Fans sat in the aisles and stood on the concourse, 10 and 15 deep. They wore red-and black-striped Xolos jerseys and plastic dog snouts (Xoloitzcuintles are Mexican hairless dogs). They gyrated to the team's “Mas Peros” (More dogs) fight song pumping from the stadium speakers.

The Xolos had the best record across the two halves of the Mexican season, at 18-3-11. They had rolled through the first two rounds of the playoffs by a combined 8-3. They had eliminated Merida last December in the semifinals of the Apertura season, including 4-0 spanking at Estadio Caliente.

And 23 minutes into yesterday's match, Merida defender Yasser Corona received a red card for a hard tackle.

All that meant was Merida put 10 men behind the ball instead of 11, hunkering down and praying for a 0-0 tie. Tijuana coach Wilson Graniolati inserted an attacker for a defender, but the Xolos, a counterattacking team all year, never adapted to being the aggressor.

It wasn't until the closing minutes that they finally found star striker Raul Enriquez, who unleashed a wicked scissor kick and a 35-yard left-footed blast. Both searing shots were acrobatically stopped by Merida goalkeeper Saul Sanchez, who used to play for Tijuana.

“It was tough to play against Tijuana in Tijuana,” Sanchez said. “I left behind a lot of good memories in this city.”